Thanksgiving
Personal Pilgrim Placecards
Awwww….Wouldn’t you just love some cute little pilgrims–like this, on your own Thanksgiving table?
Or maybe you’d prefer–a handsome devil like this? Trust me…it’s simple. All you have to do is:
Print out the pattern–at the bottom of the page and cut out the pieces.
Using the pattern, cut out enough pilgrim pieces for each member of your family.
Roll the black rectangle and staple it in place.
Wrap the white collar around the black tube–and staple.
Using embroidery scissors–cut along the line on the pilgrims bonnet.
Print out pictures of your family–I made them all about 2-1/2 inches tall. Cut them out.
Glue the pilgrim hat on the boy pilgrim’s head. Slide the girl photos into the white caps.
Now you’re ready to put your pilgrim together. Oh, and for the babies bodies, I trimmed the black body pieces about 1-1/2 inches–so they were shorter.
Slide the heads between the black piece and the white collar and glue lightly in place. Let them dry for about 30 minutes and they’ll be set for your feasting table.
No need to write anyone’s name on these guys because the kids will love finding themselves on the plate!
For the Personal Pilgrim Place Card Pattern–simply click on the link below.
Happy Harvesting!
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Pumpkin Patch Biscuits
I first saw these little do-dads in Taste of Home Magazine and thought, “Oooohhhh…” and then, with it being National Homemade Bread Day–I know, I know, but it IS–I figured these would just about qualify.
They don’t have any of the pumpkin spices that you would expect in a pumpkin bread, but it is nice to know that there is a good dose of vegetables in that little biscuit. They are soft and flaky besides. Beat that. Oh, yeah and they taste really, really good.
Ask Chompy.
Ingredients
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Cut in 1/2 cup butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine pumpkin and buttermilk; stir into crumb mixture just until moistened.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead 8-10 times. Pat or roll out to 1-in. thickness; cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. biscuit cutter–the top of a mason jar works great. Place 1 in. apart on a greased baking sheet.
Bake at 425° for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Brush butter over biscuits. Serve warm.
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Indian Corn Napkin Holders
Now, you may not believe this–but today is National Button Day. No, I swear. It is. You can Google it.
So, in honor of this fabulous, unforgettable holiday I present to you this sweet napkin holder. Doesn’t it just look like a cob of Indian corn? It was actually really fun to make by myself, but it would be a wonderful project for the kids too. So if you find yourself up to your neck in pie dough and you need to keep your sweeties occupied, this could very well be just the activity you are looking for.
All you need is a bag of craft sticks–like popsicle sticks, paper tubes, random corn colored buttons and craft clue.
You simply put a stripe of glue on the stick…
and glue the buttons on—in any order that suites you. You can use red, brown, yellow, black, white, cream and orange.
I even used dark blue and purple ones here and there.
While the button sticks are drying–if you want to–you can paint the tube yellow or orange. It’s fine left the way it is–but I wondered if it would look better painted, so I gave mine a coat of orange acrylic.
Once you’ve glued the buttons to the sticks–then glue the sticks to the paper tubes.
Once they are dry and set–they are ready to pretty-up your Thanksgiving table.
And a very happy National Button Day–to you!
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Thankful Children
How wonderful it would be if we could help our children and grandchildren to learn thanksgiving at an early age. Thanksgiving opens the doors. It changes a child’s personality. A child is resentful, negative—or thankful. Thankful children want to give, they radiate happiness, they draw people.
– Sir John Templeton
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Happy Birthday Mom…
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes…
…with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting. The kind that makes your eyes roll back in your head because you think you’ve expired and gone to Heaven.
I tried to resist. I did.
I tried to make something–anything–without pumpkin…
but it was to no avail. It’s just so dang fabulous.
When you taste these, I promise, you’ll forgive me. The original recipe can be found at Taste of Home.
Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
2-1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup buttermilk
FROSTING:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Directions
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin. Combine the flour, pie spice, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and ginger; add to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.
Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
For frosting, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and cinnamon; beat until smooth. Frost cupcakes. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 2 dozen heavenly cupcakes.
Y.U.M.
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